Peekaboo
by miikka-xx
Summary: Kanon knows everything about Ringo. kanonringo. complete.


**miikka-xx**: um, what can i say? i seem to have struck inspiration in air gear. especially the tuner/regalia areas. kanon makes me swoon, ringo makes we want to hug her sososo much. fave character in air gear, for sure.

**Title:** peek-a-boo  
**Rating:** T+ (borderline M but not really)  
**Summary: **Kanon knows everything about Ringo. kanonringo. complete.  
**Disclaimer: **did simca die? does ringo finally get a real man? does ikki grow emotions? no? then i don't own AG.  
**Warning(s): **it's not sex, per se, but it's kissing and touching.

* * *

_peek-a-boo_

* * *

The first time they met, Kanon fell in love. He was only twelve years old, she was thirteen and practicing ATs for five years now. She had scrapes on her knees, her glasses were slightly crooked and her hair was falling everywhere.

Makigai-sama pushes her in the church towards the huge wall. She says the required hymns and the wall opens up into a world of gears. Kanon watches this girl jerk in surprise. Curiosity takes over and she sprints forward, flipping elegantly onto the first gear.

"This is Tool Toul Too," says Makigai-sama, walking up past the gears. Ringo nods once and looks around. She turns around and sees Kanon standing there, in between the pews. He's watching her intently, waiting for her next move.

She flushes a bit at the attention but thrives. Her back flips are flawless, her wall glides breathtaking and her skill awe-inspiring. Kanon is in love. He moves to join the Pledge Queen and her new charge.

"Ringo, this is Kanon." She smiles prettily at him, pushes up her glasses and _flies_.

* * *

Second generation Gravity children are different, says Makigai-sama, they need tuners, unlike first generation. Ringo nods and walks in awe of all gears and screws and multitude of AT parts. Her eyes speak of childish desire and greed. She wants it all.

Kanon walks behind them, three steps away, and watches her hair bounce along with every movement, as if it had a life of it's own. The colour, red or violet or something in between, enchants him. Finally, they stop in front of a group tuners. They are all male.

"One of these will be your tuner," the Pledge Queen says.

"I'm supposed to pick one?" asks Ringo, her eyes roaming past the dozens of boys gathered around.

"Yes. Kanon?"

He snaps to attention, pulling his gaze from her hair, "Yes, Makigai-sama?"

"Go join them," she instructs. He scurries forward, feeling the girl's gaze linger on his back.

Ringo steps once forward and all the boys look at her. They are all fifteen or younger. Anyone older did not have the ability to synchronize with such a young bio-rhythm such as hers. They look over her—gaze lingering at her face, her chest, her waist, her hips and finally, at the busted up looking ATs on her feet.

Ringo calls for one and they talk quietly for a while. Her face is red by the time it is done and he goes back to the group. They hound him immediately.

"So, what she ask?" asks one.

"She wanted to know how we tune," the other shrugged. A chuckle ripples through the group.

"What did you tell her?"

"'S like sex. You get naked, lie down and let the other person lay on top of you," deadpanned the boy. The group erupts into laughter and Kanon can tell she knows they're whispering about her and she's embarrassed.

She looks up again, a determined expression on her face. She stares intently at the group before her gaze lands on Kanon.

"You." She jerks her head, "C'mere." Kanon feels a boy elbow him forward and he stumbles in front of the group. Quickly, he straightens and walks over.

"Yes?" he asks, trying to keep his eyes from wandering over her hair. She looks at him before slamming her foot down, silencing the boys.

"All of you," she commands, "take off your shirts."

Somebody whistles but they comply. Makigai-sama is hiding a smile behind her hand. Soon, the whole group is half-naked and making jeers. Ringo's face is red but she keeps standing straight. She looks at Kanon.

"You do it too, idiot," she tells him.

Kanon is twelve and scrawny, with thin arms and ribs that stick out if he stretches. His hair is long and falls over his face like a mop and his eyes are a big, innocent looking brown. Ringo eyes him critically and gestures to the Pledge Queen.

"He'll do," she announces.

Kanon is twelve and scrawny, with his shirt off and looking at a girl he knows he's in love with and he has never been happier.

* * *

The boys grumble, put their shirts back on and spread out. They climb over the gears and leave each other, pulling out kerchiefs to tie back their hair and mumble about 'wasting time' and 'ATs to fix'.

Kanon is left there, his shirt back on, with Makigai-sama and Ringo, unable to comprehend that he is now tuner of the future Thorn Queen. Makigai-sama leads them to the tuner part of the whole place. Beds are placed all around, with wires hanging everywhere, and computer screens flashing numbers and letters in incomprehensible patterns.

Kanon can read each one and understand. He prides himself on knowing how everything works. He has spent endless nights here, pouring over each wire connected to the beds, each detail of the SC suit he has to wear, each number and letter combination of the Tool Toul Too code. They call him a genius, but they don't know its practice.

He relaxes at the familiar sight and feels something pressed into his hands. He looks down, it's her ATs.

'Fix 'em," she says, "tune me."

* * *

The first time they do this, he's not old enough to appreciate a woman's body and she's not old enough to have one. It is a mixture of embarrassment, and curiosity and tentative touches. Makigai-sama is the only one there, watching quietly from the side. They are slow and stumble quite a bit, Ringo presses her cool fingertips against his ribs, his stomach, sliding down to his hipbones but never farther.

Kanon is hesitant and presses his palm to her chest bone, as far from her swollen breasts as he can, or her abdomen. Fleeting touches on the veins of her wrists, on her neck, at the dip of her collarbone to feel her pulse. He does not straddle her, does not dare touch her with anything other than his hands.

Finally, he's got enough information to synchronize the ATs with her, but he doesn't want to leave. He presses his palm against hers. I love you, he tries telling her; through the warmth he sends with his hand. I love you and I don't know why, he says but he doubts she understands.

She merely firmly presses her hand back and smiles slowly, uncertainly.

"You never told me your name," she says. Makigai-sama had introduced them, Kanon wants to say, but it's not the same, is it? Having one person tell you your name to another is not the same as telling that person your own name.

"I'm Kanon, your tuner," he says quietly, entangling his fingers with hers. Ringo looks at their entwined hands.

"I'm Ringo, your..." she hesitates and blushes, because she doesn't know what she is. Kanon smiles reassuringly.

"Everything. You are my everything," he tells her.

* * *

She leaves, telling him she doesn't understand, but she's blushing, because she knows the implications of such a statement. He does not see her for another year.

She's fourteen and on the verge of a woman, he's thirteen and growing into what he's supposed to be. Her body is curving, her hair long and her face inviting. She smiles and he notices her lips. He notices everything about her: her lips are pink and full, her eyes twinkling and slightly dangerous, the curve of her eyebrows making her seem playful, the way her hair falls around her face in two ponytails.

He thinks she does not notice anything about him. Once she has undressed, in nothing but modest pieces of underwear, she lies down on the bed, feeling it whir into action at the pressure. This time, Makigai-sama is not here. Instead, there is a man with endless blank eyes.

"Rune," says Kanon, once he emerges with his SC suit on, "start it up." Rune does not respond but his fingers flit over the keyboard. The computer screens around them light up; the familiar whir and vibration of machines fill the air.

She is fourteen and on the verge of a woman and he is thirteen, growing into what he's supposed to be. She shivers under his brief, cool touches. She has felt desire curl in her abdomen before. She knows what he could do. She is almost relieved when he does not straddle her. Only his hand ghosts over her body.

He does not expect her to press her fingertips onto his body again. That was merely childlike curiosity last time, he tells himself, but is glad she touches him of her own free will again. He is thirteen and he knows the curves of a woman through observation of other male tuners at work.

He knows other male tuners do not have fleeting brushes with skin like he does. He knows they press up against their charges, feel each heartbeat against their own, feel the warmth of another body against their own. Kanon is satisfied with just admiring her from where he is right now.

Ringo traces invisible muscle lines in his arms.

"You've grown," she remarks softly, moving her fingers to his collarbone. Kanon shivers under the touch.

"A-Ah, yes," he stutters out, feeling the curls of desire shift in him.

"How long will this take?" she asks suddenly, looking intently in his eyes.

"Another 10 minutes, maybe," he replies, "like this." He gestures vaguely at their positions—him, on hands and knees, not touching her.

Ringo does not give him a chance. She kicks his knees out from under him, making him fall against her. She wraps her arms tight around his middle, not letting him struggle.

"Is this way faster?" she grits out as embarrassment makes her go red and does not let her speak.

"U-Uh, y-yeah," he's stuttering in surprise and pleasure and embarrassment, "a-are you, um, okay?" Ringo gives a stiff nod and they lay there for a minute as Kanon tries to figure out everything.

Finally, he moves a little.

"Ringo, I, um, I'm done," he mumbles, face red. She gives a surprised gasp and lets go immediately, fumbling over apologies and dressing as quickly as she can.

He does not see her for another six months.

* * *

They're both fourteen when she returns, her Regalia almost torn into pieces.

"It, uh, wasn't cooperating, so I, um," she stuffs the destroyed ATs into his hands and looks away. Kanon laughs and nods. He sings his hymns and the doors open to the world of gears.

They figure their way through the maze of ever-changing gears and end up in the tuning room. There are girls there, all hunched over typewriters or computer screens and electricity cackles.

"Thunder King Nue is here," explains Kanon, "come, let's go to a different one." Ringo follows obediently, trying to get a glance of Nue. She sees him, looking down condescendingly at the girl straddling him.

She watches in rapture at the smooth, sensual movements of the girl-tuner, as she leans and presses her breasts against his, slides her hands down his sides. Sees the way her mouth ghosts past his stomach and rests just below his bellybutton. Nue growls and the tuner presses her ear against his skin, slowly inching her way up to his chest. Her hips straddle his, their forbidden cores almost touching if it wasn't for Nue's shorts and her SC suit.

Kanon takes her arm and pulls her away. He is suddenly in a foul mood. So Ringo was enraptured by the young Nue, huh? His jealousy exploded in his chest, making his fingers itching to hurt something. He drags her to an empty room and puts her ATs on a table beside the bed. Ringo is surprised at his sudden roughness but strips down to her underwear.

Kanon snarls slightly. "Take those off as well unless you want to lose almost 20 percent of your efficiency, _Ringo_." Ringo stares at him.

"...Fine, _Kanon_," she snarls back and takes those off as well. Soon, she's on the bed and the machines are whirring.

He is wearing his SC suit when he comes to her. This time, he does straddle her. He grinds himself against her and anger flashes through his eyes. Ringo glares defiantly back, daring him to do anything she wouldn't want. He smirks slightly, his jealousy getting the better of him.

"So, you like Nue?" he murmurs, lowering himself onto her. Ringo tenses. He trails his hands down her sides, counting each rib before gripping her hips.

"Get this over with, Kanon," she growls, angry. Kanon presses his lips against her neck, his mouth on her pulse point.

"As you wish, my everything," he says against her skin, counting each heartbeat as his hands retreated from her hips. They left trails of fire on her skin as they pressed on her chest bone, almost on her breasts.

"Can I?" he asks while pulling his mouth away. Ringo looks away, her face red and her eyes mad.

Kanon smiles to himself as he explored her. His hands cupping her breasts, his mouth nipping at skin under her jaw or behind her ear. His stomach presses against hers, heat pooling just below there. He makes her arch, he makes her moan, but he never makes love to her.

He counts her heartbeats, feels her breathing.

"Think of me as Nue, then," he whispers in her ear, when she didn't respond to him at first. Ringo whips her head to look at him.

"I don't like Nue," she says, "I never did. I was just watching." Kanon feels the jealousy in him evaporate, feels the love he has for her fill him.

"Then think of me," he tells her. Ringo does not reply but her lips are compliant against his.

They are both fourteen, curious and desirous and beautiful.

This is before she falls in love with her crow.

* * *

She's fifteen - almost sixteen - and back for one of her last rare tunings. After this, it will be almost a year and a half before she will need another one. Females mature faster than males and adapt faster as well. ATs do not need to be synchronized with the body because the body, instead, will always synchronize with the ATs.

Kanon meets her in a pew, carving his name into the wood. He's fifteen and still a virgin, but he knows her body better than she does herself.

They are back on the bed and she is back to being nude. She is fifteen - almost sixteen - and a woman. He is fifteen and a ghost of what he will be. She is responsive underneath him. She gasps and moans and says little things. Her lips part for him easily and her mouth tastes of sugar. Kanon is attentive over her.

Every time he presses a touch against her, every time he grinds against her to make her arch, he imprints his 'I love you' on her. He presses a kiss on his shoulder—I love you, he says silently. He cups her breasts – I love you, he tells her in his thoughts—

_IloveyouIloveyouIloveyou._

—until her toes are curling and she gives a breathy gasp. Even halfway through, Kanon knew that she was not imagining it was him. She calls a name halfway through his attention. Ikki, she cries, IkkiIkkiIkki.

He silences her with his mouth against hers. I love you, he mouths out against her pretty lips. I love you and I don't know why.

Kanon pulls away and pushes himself off. He grabs her ATs and leaves her alone. Ringo dresses and waits. It is only five minutes later and Kanon returns, hands her the Regalia and presses his lips against her mouth.

"Goodbye, my everything," he tells her, "let's go out sometime." He smiles at her. Ringo looks down at her Regalia.

"Maybe," she tells him. But he knows she means yes, because he's the only one who knows everything about her.

* * *

He meets Ikki on a crowded street and hates him the instant he sees him. The blood running down his hand is not from the fight, but his nails piercing through his palm. He hates that when he finally goes to her house and when this Ikki comes up the stairs, she changes.

When he presses his lips against hers in front of him, she is not compliant. Kanon rears back in anger.

I love you, he tries telling her, I love you—! But she's already gone, chasing after him.

* * *

In the end, they never go out. He wonders if he can tell her the next time she comes back for a tune-up. He wonders, when he will press his ear against her chest, that he can finally say, in his voice, looking at her through his shaggy hair and brown eyes, be able to mouth what he means to her.

He just wants her to know:

_"I'm Kanon, your tuner. And you're Ringo, my everything. I love you. I love you and I don't know why."_

* * *

**a/n: **as much as i love ringo, her choice in guys is ridiculous. ikki is so horrendously stupid, it's painful. kanon, however, is totally the way to go. and simca is a horrible choice, ikki. you're better off with kururu. simca is like a slut on ATs. it's despicable.

_Edited june 5, 2010. 'cause ffnet's formatting kills._


End file.
